Principal photography at Château d'Anet, Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France coincided with the French Premiere of the previous James Bond movie, Goldfinger. As such, members of the production attended the French launch.
Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include the Aston Martin DB5; Smirnoff Vodka; Rolex Watches, James Bond wears a Rolex Submariner; Cinzano Vermouth; Breitling "Top Time" watches; the Bell Textron Jetpack; Johnnie Walker Scotch whiskey; Corgi Toys; and Dom Perignon Champagne, particularly a Dom Perignon '55.
Singer/actor Burl Ives was originally chosen to play Largo when author Ian Fleming and producer Kevin McClory first tried to get the Bond series up and running in the late 1959.
Some release prints did not show 'James Bond will be back On Her Majesty's Secret Service' at the end of the film's credits. This was because a late change meant filming of that movie due to difficulties in scheduling shooting during winter meant that film was postponed. You Only Live Twice became the next James Bond film. The solution put forward by editor Peter R. Hunt was simply to remove the name of the title from the final credits.
Stuntman Bob Simmons appeared to have made a very narrow escape from the car explosion stunt during filming at Silverstone Racetrack, Northamptonshire, England. Director Terence Young raced to the scene whereupon Simmons surprised him from the side road as a gag. People watching the stunt generally didn't see Simmons exit the vehicle before the explosion, probably due to his exit-point being in a blind-spot to the point-of-view of those overseeing the stunt.
Stuntman Bill Cumming was paid a $450 bonus to jump into Largo's shark infested pool.
The aircraft that plucks James Bond and Domino out of the life raft was a highly modified B-17G (and was a prototype for the USAF/NASA Satellite Airborne Recovery Project).
The amount of money spent on underwater equipment for this movie including props, cameras and apparatus totaled to about $US85,000.
The Boeing B-17G-95-DL, 44-85531, registered N809Z, flown in the film with the Fulton Skyhook recovery system (later used on U.S. Air Force HC-130 Hercules rescue service aircraft), was owned by Intermountain Aviation, a secretive company based at Marana Air Park, Arizona, which was revealed in the 1970s to have actually been a CIA proprietary company, wholly owned by the agency, set up to cloak discrete operations, as reported by author and B-17 historian Scott A. Thompson. This aircraft is now known as "Shady Lady", registered N207EV, with the Evergreen Aviation Museum, Portland, Oregon, where Howard Hughes' HK-1 Hercules, aka the "Spruce Goose", is also displayed.
The budget for this Bond film was more than the combined budgets of the first three Bond films.
The character of Count Lippe is a reference to Ian Fleming's old friend from his days as an intelligence officer, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. Bernhard was born as Bernhard von Lippe Biesterfeld. Prince Bernhard was very pleased by the reference.
The conga drummer at the Kiss Kiss Club is King Errisson (uncredited) and not only has a recording career of his own but also has played in the Neil Diamond band since 1972.
The dictionary definition of the word "thunderball" is that it was a military term used by US soldiers to describe the mushroom cloud seen during the testing of atomic bombs. Hence its use as a title because this would be result of SPECTRE detonating the stolen atomic bombs. In a case of life imitating art, the codename for the 1976 Israeli operation to rescue hostages held in Uganda was called "Thunderball" and named after this movie.
The film was originally supposed to have had its premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London in September 1965. It was delayed until December because the film could not be completed in time.
The film's title song is sung by Tom Jones. A song called "Thunderball" sung by Johnny Cash was submitted to the filmmakers but was rejected. A cover version of the title song sung by Martin Fry can be heard on the David Arnold Bond song compilation album, "Shaken and Stirred: the David Arnold James Bond Project". Another cover of the theme song was apparently recorded by Mr. Bungle but it has never been released.
The film's World Premiere was held on 9th December 1965 at the Hibiya Cinema, Tokyo, Japan. The film's US Premiere was on 21 December 1965 in New York and this is sometimes mistaken as being the movie's World Premiere. United Artists arranged one of the Bell Jet-Pack pilots to fly off the marquee of the Paramount Theater at 1501 Broadway, Manhattan as a promotion at the launch. A number of United Artists publicity personnel and the pilot were arrested as no one had sought permission from the authorities. The UK launch held dual premieres in London on 29th December 1965 at the Rialto Theatre and Pavillion Theatre, Piccadilly Circus. The after-party was held at the Royal Garden Hotel and proceeds from the night went to benefit the Newspaper Press Fund.
The Fiona Volpe character was originally Irish and called Fiona Kelly in earlier drafts of the script. But the surname was changed to suit the Italian nationality of Luciana Paluzzi who was cast in the role of Fiona after being rejected for the role of Domino. The character does not appear at all in the novel.
The first line of the "Thunderball" James Bond novel read: "It was one of those days when it seemed to James Bond that all life, as someone put it, was nothing but a heap of six to four against." The last line of the "Thunderball" James Bond novel read: "Then she gave a small sigh, pulled the pillow to the edge of the bed so that it was just above him, laid her head down so that she could see him whenever she wanted to, and closed her eyes."
The first outline for this movie was written by Ernest Cuneo on 27th May 1959. Cuneo was also used as the name of a character in Ian Fleming's novel 'Diamonds Are Forever,' but not in its subsequent film adaptation Diamonds Are Forever.
The large ship that fires a cannon at the Disco Volante at the end can be identified as the Royal Navy frigate HMS Rothesay from its pennant number (F 107).